Over his 20-year NHL career, Alex Ovechkin has rarely passed up a chance to score.
Ovechkin made history Friday night, scoring twice at home in DC to tie Wayne Gretzky for the all-time goals record. The goal brought the crowd at Capital One Arena roaring to its feet, stopping play for several minutes as Ovechkin’s teammates poured from the bench in celebration. But after he took a moment to bask in the accomplishment — saluting his family, Capitals faithful, and the watching Wayne Gretzky — Ovechkin was ready to go for the hat trick.
With just under two minutes to go, the Chicago Blackhawks pulled goaltender Spencer Knight, giving Ovechkin had what could have been a clear chance for goal no. 895 at jp,e. Head coach Spencer Carbery and the rest of the team were ready to set Ovechkin up for the record-breaking marker, while fans watching on waited for him to take the ice. Ovechkin, however, didn’t want the story to end on an empty cage.
“I tell Carbs right away, ‘I don’t want to do it,’” Ovechkin said postgame. “Stromer ask me, Carly ask me, everybody ask me, ‘Do you want it? Do you want it?’ I said, ‘Let’s wait.’”
Ovechkin, who holds the league record with 65 empty-net goals, knows how it feels to reach a milestone without a goalie in net: he scored an empty-netter back in 2022 for goal no. 802, passing Gordie Howe for second in all-time goals. Even then, Ovechkin was hesitant to shoot, passing the puck back and forth with Evgeny Kuznetsov in a game of hot potato before lighting the lamp.
Given the stakes at hand — two minutes to go, the chance for a hat trick, and the opportunity to make history on home ice — Carbery wanted to make sure Ovechkin was certain in his decision to sit the play out. Still, he stood by Ovechkin’s decision, even if it cost him a chance at the record Friday night.
“He wants to break the record with a goaltender in the crease, which I appreciate, and he didn’t want to go up,” Carbery said postgame. “He told me that on the bench, and I just wanted to confirm and make sure that he didn’t want to go out.
“Being at home, it’s hard, right? Because for us as coaches and me, even, I just want to make sure that he — ‘Are you sure in this moment, hat trick, at home?’ And he didn’t want to go out and score on an empty net to break the record. And I appreciate that. We have six games left. He wants to break the record and have that moment be where he’s shooting a puck past a goalie. And I have a lot of appreciation for that.”
Dylan Strome, who has spent three years as Ovechkin’s center, similarly grappled with Ovechkin’s decision — for once, no one on the bench wanted to score — but ultimately deferred to his judgement.
“It’s hard, because for a hat trick goal, it’s a little different,” Strome said postgame. “I asked him about 15 times. I didn’t want to be the guy to shoot it in the empty net if he wanted the empty netter…you don’t want to be the guy to shoot it into the empty net if he’s looking for it to pass, but he made it pretty clear that he didn’t want to get it on an empty netter, and you’ve got to respect his wishes.”
Ryan Leonard eventually scored in Ovechkin’s place, notching the first goal of his NHL career.
“I’m happy for Leno. He score his first NHL goal. The kid have a great future,” Ovechkin said postgame.
Though Ovechkin didn’t want an empty-net goal, that didn’t mean he was ready to be done for the night.
“When the goalie went back in, he absolutely wanted to get back out on the ice,” Carbery said with a laugh.
Between Leonard’s empty-net goal and the final buzzer, Ovechkin did not leave the ice, recording a 1:36 shift to end the night with 20:27 in total time on ice. He made four shot attempts during the shift in a last-minute bid for the record, but ultimately ended the night tied with Gretzky.
“You could tell (he) was determined to find a way to score a goal there,” Carbery said.
“I have pretty good chances in the last minute. If Stromer give me a nice pass, like a flat one, it would be probably be in,” Ovechkin joked of the final minutes of the game.
Ovechkin’s determination to break the record against a goaltender means his goal chase will live on for at least one more day, with the Capitals next playing the New York Islanders on Sunday. Even with the last goal still to go, however, Ovechkin has made history.
“Tonight is an unbelievable night for our organization, for hockey, for DC,” he said. “Wayne Gretzky saw that, and it’s unbelievable.”
